Homeowners aged 65-plus gained £13.66bn in the past three months – equivalent to around £2,956 each – as the housing market stabilised.
Dean Mirfin, group director at Key Retirement Solutions, said: “It is too early to talk about a housing market recovery but pensioners have on average seen gains of £2,956 in their property equity.
“That masks big differences with pensioners in London, Scotland and Wales seeing major gains while other regions are standing still or seeing losses.”
But there were considerable differences between winners and losers with pensioners in London, Scotland and Wales enjoying substantial gains while over-65 homeowners in the East Midlands suffered losses.
The latest index comes at a time when the latest ONS figures reveal growth across all UK property prices of 2.3% compared to the same time last year.
Over-65 homeowners in London were the biggest winners seeing average gains of £15,954 followed by over-65s in Scotland on £12,720 and Welsh pensioners with £5,811.
The biggest loss was in the East Midlands with over-65s £713 worse off while pensioners in North West, the East of England, Yorkshire & Humberside and the North East saw small losses.
Key Retirement’s figures show a third of property equity is owned by pensioners in London and the South East of England – in London over-65s own property without any mortgages worth £131.13bn while in the South East pensioners own £123.35bn of property without mortgages.
Mirfin added: “It remains the case that whatever happens in the housing market over-65s own considerable property wealth which represents a massive investment success as they no longer have mortgages on houses they may have bought more than 25 years ago.
“The equity release market is seeing strong growth in the number of plans sold and the money released as more pensioners opt for drawdown products. They enable customers to benefit from lower borrowing costs today, allowing for increased flexibility to access further funds over time as and when required.”
